Walking the talk - Ray Vivier

Homeless veteran laid to rest after saving lives

This is how it's supposed to go people.  Put yourself and your puney wants on the backburner to help "the least of these".  The people this man saved didn't care that he was a recovered alcoholic who lived in a shanty most of his life.  Actually, they didn't much care that he had honorably served his country.  What mattered was that this man didn't take a second thought for himself and saved their lives.

In turn, he didn't take time to think about what color the people he saved were or how much money they made or what religion they were.  He didn't even give a shit who they slept with.  The point was that some selfish asshole decided to set their home on fire and they needed to be saved.  Their lives were more important than the building or even his own life.  He only took enough time to note that his body and mind were able enough to help total strangers.

May we all be grateful to the people who he had affected in the past that came forward to make sure that he had an honorable and respectful internment. Sounds a little like some friends of that guy who set the original example for this kind a stuff a long time ago doesn't it?  Think about it....no labels, no barriers, no terms or conditions...just unconditional love.

Really Pat Robertson? Is your God that small?

Yeah, you keep striking fear into the hearts of people and crushing their self-esteem Mr. Robertson.  You're really doing the work of a divine and holy entity.

STOP!!  And people who are following this shit!!! Wake the fuck up!!!  A man preaching that The Fates have a bone to pick with the Haitians but wait a couple of hundred years and a whole lot of generations later to punish them?  Really?  Reeeeally Pat?  Really CBN followers?  Even the ancient Pagans felt that some acts of nature were indeed their Gods getting a bit cranky with them but it was for something they fucked up within the last year or two at the most.  Their deities didn't hold a grudge for a couple of centuries or even a decade. 

I think one of the things that is really disturbing me is that Pat Robertson is affecting educated Americans in the 21st Century.  We are not plebes under Roman rule who can't read and allow the salesman to decide how many sheckles he'll take from our hands for a purchase because we can't count.  We are not in the Middle Ages in Europe where the priest said "Pay me ten ducats and God will forgive you" and the illiterate peasants who didn't speak or read formal Latin so they had no clue what the Mass was saying, paid!  NO PEOPLE!!!  You live in post Revolutionary War America where Thomas Jefferson established a public education system to provide an educated electorate to support the new democratic republic he and his cronies in the Continental Congress had created.  If you don't know how to read and write it is only your own fault in the end.  The school was there.  It was free.  The teachers were in the school.  And more importantly than teaching you how to read, write and work with numbers....they taught you how to use you fucking BRAIN...THE SAME ONE THAT GOD GAVE YOU!! 

You want to talk SIN?  Ok, how about this.  You were born with about three pounds of functioning gray matter in your head.  Yes, there are some people that have not been equally blessed.  However, The Fates have provided them with different talents and abilities and fortunately one of them is not being blind followers of false prophets.  Yeah, yeah, there are parents of mentally and physically challenged kids who take them to church hoping they will be healed or so other crap.  But I find most of them grow up and decide to ask the Gods to show them their strengths in the conditions they are in and plug on.  But don't comment on this blog that there are fundie handicapped people...yeah, I know there are some but we're talking about you, who has enough mental and physical capacity to turn on a computer, get internet service, sign on and read this.  So how do you feel The Great Spirit, Divine and Benevolent feels about you blindly following a person who is claiming to speak the mind of this Sacred Being and not questioning the fact that when Mr. Robertson and his ilk get to the bottom line-God is this tiny little cartoon character who is screaming in a squeaky little voice at some six foot something human going "I'm gonna get you  You wait!"   Really?  Really? 

See in my book, GOD is HUGE.  It's the entire universe.  It surrounds us, it supports us and it fills us.  IT LOVES US!!!  Earthquakes, fire, hurricanes...natural occurances people.  War, terrorists, murderers, theives...people with selfish motives and personal agendas.  NOT GOD!!!

Please wake up.  See that these preachers, etc. are teaching a false doctrine.  It's not about separation.  It's not about isolationism.  It's not about a golden ticket.  It's about getting off your ass, getting over your fear and being a loving human being.  That is the greatest gift you can give back to God to say thanks for the life that The Divine gave you.  Want to serve "the purpose"?  Love each other and don't continue to feed this charleton's or any other's egos. 

Jesus under the couch and the Holy Spirit in the hall closet

So you found Jesus?  Really?  Like under the couch?

Seriously people, it's all about the spiritual not about a guy.  It's not who he was.  It was what he said and how he lived and you're doing it wrong in my book.

To me the Divine is something huge and genderless but genderful.  It may be many beings that fit together like a puzzle to make that one Great Spirit or it is just one gianormous Sacred thing.  It is sacred and holy because it created all this.  Alllll this.  Go outside now that the sun has set and look up.  If you're lucky enough to be somewhere with minimal light pollution you can see a bit of the Milky Way.  Think about earlier members of the human family before electricity.  The vastness of the night sky.  Now maybe you can grasp their awe of the Fates.  No science to explain lightening or earthquakes so there was respect for that which surrounded them and inhabited the earth beneath them.  Is it any wonder they paid homage and made sacrifice to try to assure one more day of life?  Yes, they had a healthy respect for all of creation and the thing that created it. 

It's not about a book.  Especially a book that describe this tiny, jealous and immature "diety" that, in one breath states that it loves its creation but in the other tells the beings it "created in its image" to create labels and classes and castes and not have anything to do with this group or that.  A holy being that tempts his creatures with the fruit of a tree and when they do break the rule the first thing they notice is that they're naked?

Ok, I was going to do some more research on Genesis but the crazy contradictions after the original creation of the heavens and earth are ridiculuos.  I got angry with the "man leaving mother, woman leaving home" or whatever.  If they were the first two people that meant absolutely nothing to them.  Oh and need we forget about Caine being sent to the Land of Nod.  And just where the hell did those people and that country come from because it sure does sound like they'd be around a while before Caine offed his brother. 

See?  The book is kind of irrelevant and there are equal conflicts of information and dumb rules in the Koran too.  Bottom line is that all three religions that do the "one god" thing have come up with this really tiny, petty, disrespectful and cliquey diety.  Then the Christians throw in this one guy who supposedly is carrying the entire outcome of the world on his shoulders and all you have to do is believe he's the son of God to get Divine parole into heaven no matter how big a shit you are and how little you're doing to support your piece of the planet/mankind.  Mind you they're not saying to look at the dude's life and see  that maybe this is a road map for better living?  That maybe you're better off if you live like him?

Here's the point.  I've made a lot of mistakes and done a lot of stupid things to get people to like me but I was fortunate to be blessed with a living angel when I was 17.  That angel taught me about the spiritual and the supernatural.  He showed me some very interesting things about that Jesus guy.  But then my angel and I parted ways.  I continued on a road of being a people pleaser and self-loser for over thirty-five years.  The selflessness wasn't out of any concern for anyone else.  I just wanted people to like me so I became a hundred different people that weren't me.  But somewhere way down inside me there was a flame.  And it always reminded me that there was something else.  Something I needed to stay connected to.  I attended a lot of different churches when I was not in the company of spiritual people trying to find the thing that fed that flame.  I didn't find it in any of them.  In fact in some of those supposed houses of God I found nothing but hate, elitism and bigotry.  For all their profession of charismaticism, they were the farthest thing from spiritual.  They did a lot of damage to me. 

I found my way back to the path though and here's what I see.  The Jesus-guy in my eyes is a concept person.  Whether or not he was a flesh and blood person doesn't matter.  It was the example that was important.  "He who believeth in me shall have life everlasting"....all of us who believe in the concept and put it in practice will live a legacy that will live on for lifetimes.  And what is the concept?  Be kind.  Love your neighbor as yourself...no matter what color they are, their age, how much money they have or have not, where or even if they go to church, who they hang out with, etc., etc.  "What you did for the least of these".  We're supposed to clothe, feed, minister to and visit all of them.  ALL OF THEM.  Again, no boundaries.  No if's.  No but's.  ALL OF THEM.  Finally  "Do unto others as you would have them do to you"  So if you want them to legistlate who and how you love then do it to them.  If you want to be treated differently because of your race, creed or gender then do it to your neighbor.  And when the time comes and it comes down to your life to save your neighbor's?  Will you give it a second-thought?  THAT'S THE JESUS GUY.  It's not a person, it's YOU.  Or you if you're doing it right. 

A good man (or woman)?  Don't take what's not yours.  Don't put others in danger.  Don't hit people.  Definitely don't kill them.  Things like lust and greed?  Those are just life wasters.  Covetting?  Same deal.  If you want sex, money, a house like the guy down the street?  Don't sit home in front of your TV being grumpy.  Figure out how to change your situation.  Lust is cheap.  Try love.  Heck then you get sex with emotional and psychological support.  You get someone to share the load and the journey with.  Gluttony?  Yeah cuz you're an asshole who's pigging out while the guy on the park bench hasn't eaten in a week.  You're just filling the empty spots in your heart, mind and soul with food.  How about buying another sandwich and finding a hungry someone to share it with.  They're also hungry for a friend. 

It's not about a building or the people that reside in it a few hours a week.  It's not about what they read from a book or songs that they sing.  It's not the hours wasted in study of "holy scriptures".  It's practicing the art of living in love.  And there is something around us.  It is real, and huge and loves us back and you can tap into it to find out why that Being put you here because that's the bonus card to this life.  The Divine hopes that we have a second to really open ourselves up and try to figure out what our personal gift is and what we're supposed to do with it. 

Religious people have spent way too many years building dogma and doctrine that scares people way from exploring the spirit realm.  Yes, there are bad things but if we were taught how to descern there is so much good power that needs to be tapped to heal this fucked up world.  Open your heart, your mind and your spirit.  Listen.  Look.  Learn. 

Activism and Advocacy are not sexy...

...Or "Posers go home!"

The Civil Rights movement is not hip.  It's not cool.  I'd challenge you to find even a few posers doing it to be part of the "in crowd".  Oh, what's that you say?  You can rattle off a list of celebs that are involved in one camp or another.  Really?  Look closer.  They are people who have personal stakes in the group they are advocating.  Entertainers?  Yes, most of them were members of the music nerd/drama geek/art dweebs in high school.  They just found their balls to actually make money being the weird kids.  Big business execs?  Yeah, they were the math, language, civics and science kids in their teens.  They and the afore mentioned groups tended to mingle and blur in their adolescence.  Athletes?  Well really I find there is only one group that might have believably "fought" at one time but do so rarely now that their part of the fight was "won"...African American professional athletes.  The rest?  Nope.  Can't think of any off the top of my head nor members of any team's cheer squads.  Beauty queens? They really get me because if not for the queer nation, pagents wouldn't exist but those gals are not the most supportive of their twinks.

So really...where are the "popular" kids when it comes to standing shoulder to shoulder with the LGBTs, the African-Americans, the Latin community, the Jews, the Muslims, the pagans, women?  Yeah...interesting huh?

Which brings me to my point.  There is a group, albeit small, that has emerged from "middle America" who are supposedly now die-hard "queer peers".  On the surface this would seem to be a noble act of sacrifice.  However, it is not and it could have some very negative results if allowed to continue.  This group, who had never heard the term "fag hag" before early last summer now seem to think that they are deserving of the title...while still attending their little evangelical storefront holy roller churches, living their bigoted little lives in their white-bread hometowns and scorn the "towel heads" that run the local 7-11.  They sing the battle cry of "Marriage for all" on Twitter, fan-sites and blog posts/comments.  They send letters/emails to state representatives and U.S. congress people who represent districts far from their own.  They throw the word "homophobe" around when ever they get the chance.  How would they react if one of their kids or siblings came out?

STOP!!!!  You are doing it wrong!!

First let me take the simple thing.  "Queer peers".  Oh, you've never heard that term?  Fag hags are part of that division of the LGBT civil rights army.  We are the straight advocates for the queer nation.  We are PFLAG.  We are GSA.  We are even GLAAD (despite some of their recent short-comings in a certain incident).  We have family, friends and co-workers who are LGBT and we support them, love them and treat them like anyone else...like human beings deserving of love and respect.

Posing as an advocate from the gay tribe is a giantic act of disrespect.  Oh!  Did I call you a poser?  Yeah...yeah I went there.  See the thing is...you were introduced to a gay man who isn't a walking stereotype.   And by the way...most lesbians, gays, bi's and transexuals are not stereotypes.  That's why you say you've never known a gay person...because the ones you have met...blend in with all the other people.  Sadly they've learned societal camoflage along with every other shunned group.  But just so we're clear, even if they were accepted, you wouldn't be seeing a whole lot of outward changes other than a couple out and about holding hands, sharing a peck on the cheek or a hug.  Not all lesbians live in flannel and work boots and not all gay men wear tight jeans, v-neck t's and loafers without socks.

But back to that exotic cat (thanks Fae) that you give the impression you'd like to see uncaged.  The truth is the only reason you'd let him in your house is if you thought he was there to seduce you...(1) you're the wrong sex and (2) most of you are old enough to be his mom.  So really what's going on here is that he's a novelty to you because you've never been this close to an openly gay man and he's especially titilating because you "discovered" him though a TV show that up until now pumped out cookie-cutter, second-rate recording artists.  I have so many words in my head to speak of all your hypocrisy and arrogance.  I heard you all get all upset over the young man's photoshoot for a certain gentleman's fashion magazine.  You were, in truth offended that the gay boy was in erotic poses with a woman.  What you were really saying is "Oh pretty freak, we love when you spark our libidos from the stage but how dare you put your nasty queer hands on that pretty straight girl".  Sure you tried to cover it up with "I wish I was her."  What will happen when this singer is invited to revisit his acting routes and place out a romantic scene with a woman?  Do you still watch How I Met Your Mother after Neil Patrick Harris came out.  Did you stop watching old Rock Hudson romance movies when his homosexuality was revealed posthumously?  I think a few of you may have.

All I can say is that next week I hope you crawl back into your television sets and get wrapped up in selecting the next best thing and leave the gay community alone.  They're much better off without you.

Young lives-some well lived and others wasted

This week I had two young deaths cross my path.  One will be mourned by a few but was a life well lived and one that touched those few very deeply.  The other is one that has made headlines and drawn a lot of attention but was really a wasted life.

The first young man was only 18.  He had suffered for a long-term illness.  Despite my friendship with his mom, I had no idea what affliction had bound him to a wheelchair.  All I knew about him actually was that he was a fighter and a winner.  Because of him our church camp made long needed renovations to accomodate not only Josh and his chair but other physically challenged kids and adults.  In that Silver Lake is such an amazing place, this was such a great thing as it offered more opportunities to more people to spend time there. 

I met Josh's mom in 2004 at a workshop for youth leaders.  I knew I liked her immediately when I saw her rag-tied flip-flops and her toe ring.  I hadn't reclaimed my freedom and courage at that point so I wasn't aware that she was part of the adventure my life would become.  What I did know was that we both related to teenagers when it came to ministry in very similar ways.  We knew that high schoolers and college kids worship was louder and more colorfully than adults but with a lot more cynicism than little kids.  Once you gave them permission to bring humor into faith along with trusting them to try new approaches to love, worship and service, they blossomed like big neon colored flowers.  They would even laugh, sing and conquered their fear of failure. 

As the years have passed I learned about Josh, actually at Silver Lake when Kathy had her kids there for a Confirmation Retreat.  I had so much more respect for her watching how she managed her group of confirmands and chaperones while looking out for Josh's special needs.  She's a freakin' awesome mom and my hat's off to her because I don't know if I could be half as brave, courageous and hard-working if in the same boat. 

Josh did graduate high school.  But he didn't live to see Christmas this year.  I didn't find out until a few days later when I signed on to Facebook for the first time in over a week.  My heart broke reading Kathy's posts about one less chair at that table and going to Christmas Eve service without her son.  I hugged my boy a little harder and took time to chat with my daughter in MD that night. 

Although I didn't know Josh, from all that I've read in the past few days from his family and friends, his was a life well led.  He did everything he could with it even from a wheelchair.  He left a lasting effect on many people and taught them life lessons about love and courage.  He used all that the Divine had given him for the purposes it was meant.

On the flipside of the coin, at Midnight this morning I read of the death of yet another young entertainer.  This man was 28 years old and a gifted percussionist.  Sadly though, he felt he had to live up to the lifestyle of a rocker boy.  Between drugs, alcohol and diabetes, his body gave up. 

He's left behind a long-time girlfriend, a succesful band who were also four of his closest friends and a huge international fan base...all of whom right now are holding him up as some kind of hero.  Personally I see him as a selfish bastard. 

My belief is that we are all created by the Great Spirit with talents and the potential to affect others in positive ways.  The highest and sincerest form of praise and worship to the Holy One for those gifts is to search within ourselves, find them and use them...for good. 

Those of you who know me and/or follow my writing about music know that I have a very deep love for rock music and the people who make it.  It just breaks my heart that so many destructive influences have worked their way into that world to the point that artists feel required to include them in their lives and worse that some fans expect them to.  Honestly I think that these guys and gals can make just as great music without alcohol, cocaine and other narcotics, along with random unprotected sex.  It also makes me angry that "live hard, die young" is still a battle cry amongst rock musicians and fans.  Why?

James Sullivan was just one more kid who felt he had to live the rock & roll lifestyle even if it meant that he wouldn't still be creating drum beats 30 years from now or sharing his talents with new-comers as a teacher, producer or manager.   He had to prove to the fans that he could play hard night and day with no thought to his blood sugar levels or the bodily harm he caused himself when drunk or high.  And the fans cheered him on.  The harder he abused himself the louder they cheered. 

Today they are all posting on their blogs and message boards about how sad they are and how wonderful they thought he was.  But, I fear, this will be like every other young celeb who has passed in the last 5 or 10 years...a lot of hooplah for a couple of weeks and then forgotten.  Oh the people who were closest to him will miss him for a long time but will even they see or understand how little he respected the gift of life he had been given?

Josh respected the gift.  He did everything he could with his life knowing that he probably wouldn't live to collect social security.  He was brave and faced the challenge of each new day following his doctors orders and listening to his parents to make the most of that day.  Drugs were medication to be used to help him survive. 

I'm not a holy roller.  I don't put any merit into "being saved" or even having to believe that Jesus was anything more than a very wise man who served as a living instruction manual on how to best live life.  But what I do believe is that there is a Higher Power and that it does have a plan for better living but it's up to each one of us to pray/meditate/search for the that plan within ourselves and then have the guts to live it out.  Anything less is a waste of the gift.  I just hope that those people who are holding "The Rev" up as some kind of role model take a step back and maybe find the Joshs in their lives and see what a real role model is. 

"Itsy bitsy.........teeny weeny................little bitty............" GOD!!

Excuse me but whatever happened to "For God so loved the WORLD" and "love your neighbor as yourself" and "do unto (ALL) others as you would have them do unto you" and "what you did for the LEAST of these you did for ME!"? Huh?

These are big, bold, broad statements.  If you go through the Bible, Qu'ran, Torah, because I'm going to focus on the Big Three/One God theologies right now, this Divine Being is pretty huge and it created THE WHOLE UNIVERSE and EVERYTHING in it.  So why do people who follow these three doctrines work so hard to put this HOLY CREATOR into smaller and smaller boxes every day?

It hit me a couple of days ago when I read about pending legislation in Uganda to execute gays and lesbians.  It caused another thought to rise up in me that I had considered a few weeks back...there are still parts of this country where interracial marriage is illegal.  Although we've gotten a little less barbaric in the past fifty years it was not uncommon for one or both members of an interracial couple to be murdered for marrying the person they loved.  Heck, they would be beaten or killed just for walking down the street hand in hand.

The thought broadened to the resurgence of Neo-Nazism in this country.  Although the KKK seems to be "so last year", there are still way too many (any more than zero) hate groups in the U.S. who will not stop short of violence against Jews, queers, non-Caucasians, non-WASPs and the really alarming part is that they can justify this stuff with "Christian" scripture.  WHAT?

In the Old Testament we get those "10 Rules for healthy living"...all of us Judeo-Christian kids had them memorized by the time we were eight.  There is one in particular though that mankind seems to have this constant habit of adding an "if" or a "but" to...the "thou shall not kill" one.  Yeah, that one.  Now add to that this train of thought I'm on right now..."God", "Goddess", "Great Spirit", etc.- whatever you call that enormous Divine Universal Creating and Ruling Power is just that....HUUUUGE!!!  And it's benevolent.  It really wants us to "get it".  It loves us.  So sometimes it sends signs to show us the way.  We usually do a pretty good job of ignoring those signs....things like the Holocaust to remind us that hate is just not part of the plan.  "God" created each and every one of us so who are we to say that any race, religion, culture, sexuality or socio-economic status is any better or worse that the other?  I love how I hear "fundies" declaring how God is the one true judge and yet they are the first to start judging everyone that doesn't go to their church. hmmmm

Last night I read a lovely spew of hate in, of all places that bastion of intelligent journalism, The Wall Street Journal.  The author, Peggy Noonan, posted the question at the end of "Have we become a more vulgar country?".  Now to put this in context, the entire article (which you can read here if you have a strong constitution "The Adam Lambert problem" ) Ms. Noonan is trying to take the focus off the current economic problems in this country and place all of our woes on the shoulders of a 27 year old rising pop star based on an event that occured weeks ago.  I found myself at first enraged and then utterly  amused by the ignorance of this "journalist".  If we want to talk vulgar let's go back to those "kinder, gentler times of the 40's and 50's that she compares the present to.  Signs still hung in restaurants, pubic transporation and restrooms declaring "Whites Only".  Schools were still segragated.  Girls who got pregnant out of wedlock were disowned by their families resulting in runaways or worse...suicide.  Catholics where not allowed to run for the presidency.  Jews tended to keep to themselves and try to remain out of the public eye, still more than a little gunshy after the Holocaust. And women were shamed out of the workplace and back into the home "where they belonged" when the troops returned from the war.  But these things were not "vulgar"?  I beg to differ.

"Red and yellow, black and white.  They are precious in His sight.  Jesus love the little children of the world."  And he still loves us even when we are big, old, rich, poor, queer, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, fat, skinny, boy or girl children.  I always loved that shirt that said "I'm OK.  God don't make junk!"  There are lots of people in this world that I don't like but I have to love them.  Sometimes that love means putting you in rehab, a mental institution or jail.  Sometimes that love means telling you "no" or "wait".  And sometimes that love means taking that extra $10 I just came into and buying a meal for a runaway teenager.  So people?  Quit trying to justify your hate, fear and anger by blaming it on The Divine...it just brings that Being down below your level and it's no longer a Sacred Creator but a little piss-ant under your shoe.  You can't put God in a box.  And you can't deny that He/She/It loves the Jew sitting next to you on the bus, the East Indian that sold you your last six-pack, the homeless kid that asked you for a buck or the gay man who does your hair nor can you say that any of these people have less of a right to walk this planet than you do.

Hypocracy and The (Magic) Kingdom

Here we go again.  Fear winning over rational thought.  For those who read my music blog, you know my issues with Adam Lambert’s AMA performance and it had nothing to do with boy-kissing or faux oral sex.  The actual production was so bloated with choreography that cast Lambert as a dancer and singer, it caused his vocals to suffer horribly and resulted a mid-number fall. 

I even understood ABC deciding to give Adam a time-out by “dis-inviting” him to Good Morning American.  It was very noble of CBS to pick him up for Early Morning but then they too had their own censorship faux pas.  But considering that the former Idol contestant was allowed to speak his mind clearly, succinctly and intelligently regarding the proper parenting of children, I’ll give them a “pass”.  What I don’t understand is ABC continuing their “punishment” of the glam rocker. 

It was announced yesterday that Adam’s appearance on Jimmie Kimmel had been cancelled.  There is still no hard evidence if the network told Lambert’s camp that it was due to pressure from the FCC or if he decided to be to be the bigger person and attempt to take some of the heat off of the American Broadcasting Company and their parent, Disney by pointing some blame on the Federal Communications Commission.  However, based on actual fact from the FCC’s own published guidelines, they have no jurisdiction over the airwaves after 10 p.m. local time.  This means that those who were viewing in the Central Time Zone may have a legal leg to stand on but it also means that ABC can only be fined for that one performance. 

ABC/Disney’s current action sends the message that they believe that Adam Lambert/RCA/19Entertainment/Sony Music Group are foolish enough to stage another such over-the-top performance.  But even if he did, Kimmel is aired well after the 10 p.m. cut off for the FCC so there would be no fines involved.  The bottom line is that ABC is playing to the pearl clutching right-wingers. 

It also has sent a message that straight male domination in this country is still a huge issue.  Would someone please explain to me why men are so afraid of women?  We can’t be trusted to take control of our own bodies, minds or politics.  Unless…….it means playing to some man’s sexual fantasies.  It’s fine to show girl-on-girl kissing or implied heterosexual acts everywhere on television…sitcoms, dramas, soap operas, variety shows, etc. all that play before the witching-hour of 10 p.m.  These same men also feel threatened by a gay man who is not a walking stereotype.  Gentlemen, how does he pose a threat to your sexuality or to your women-folk?  Honestly if that was the case wouldn’t you be more upset about his DETAILS photoshoot? 

Here’s the deal America…stop beating your chests and saying how “right” fundamentalist Christianity is and how screwed up the country is morally when the movies with the highest tickets sales are either just brainless stupid comedies or bloody horror flicks.  You have no problem with violence on television or in song lyrics.  It’s ok for your minor girl Mylie to dance on a stripper pole dressed like slut.  You’re not calling your congress person or banging down the FCC’s door over shows like Criminal Minds, CSI or Survivor (how to be totally ruthless to your neighbor for money).  It’s really nice that you're “Pro Life” but has your church built an orphanage?  Are you taking these moms and their children into your home?  What happened to that scripture about taking the log out of your own eye before removing the speck from your brothers?  Yeah, that’s what I thought. 

If you want to honor the Divine…use the faculties you were blessed with.  Listen.  Watch. Feel. Process. Touch.  Respect.  Love.  Fear is not something created by The Fates.  It is a human reaction to things unknown.  Once you get to know it…if it is trying to do your physical harm, then, indeed fight back.  If it’s trying to take your stuff, defend it.  But if it just looks different, likes different food, makes more/less money than you, etc…that’s not a legitimate reason to turn on it. 

Peace kids,
Mom